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Bournemouth striker Eli Junior Kroupi has been telling FourFourTwo about the critiques he receives over his Premier League performances from someone who knows him better than most.
French forward Kroupi joined Bournemouth from affiliate club Lorient in January of 2025, remaining on loan in Ligue 2 until the summer, before becoming a key man for Andoni Iraola's first team this season.
Eli Junior Kroupi on his father: 'He felt that he had no choice but to be demanding with me, because he spotted something in me'
Eli Kroupi Snr was a renowned bagsman in Ligue 1 for the likes of Nancy and Lorient, winning the 2002 Coupe de France final with the latter, over 20 years prior to his son representing the club.
Junior Kroupi, as he's known, has inherited his dad's two-footedness and eye for goal – and he explains to FourFourTwo how his dad coached his trademark thumping finish over the years.
“I worked on that a lot with my father when I was younger,” he says. “Now I’m playing in the Premier League, I have to accelerate even more because the game is even quicker. It’s about doing things more quickly and working on shooting from different positions.”
Like plenty of footballing dynasties, the teenager has revealed that his father likes to challenge him – but having spotted something in his son at a young age, this coaching comes from knowing just how good Kroupi Jr could become.
“It’s been the role of a father, and above all the role of someone very demanding, because he’s the person who knows me best in a football sense,” Kroupi explains. “He felt that he had no choice but to be demanding with me, because he spotted something in me. He said to himself: ‘If I don’t take him as far as I can, he won’t fulfil his dreams and his ambitions.’”
In fact, the pair still “work together”, according to the Cherries star – despite disagreements.
“We talk about my matches as soon as the referee has blown the final whistle,” the teenager says. “He shares his feelings, I share mine, then we debate and talk about the game. Sometimes we don’t agree! We’ll have a debate because he’ll have seen things that I didn’t and I’ll have seen things that he didn’t.”
Surely his dad can provide footage of exactly how it should be done…
“He showed me videos of his goals to show off a bit!” Kroupi says with a smile. “He was naturally happy to show me that and I was happy to watch. The things he went through, the mistakes he might have made, he doesn’t want me to make them. He’s been a huge help to me in my career. He’s taught me things, like about runs that he liked to make, so I’ve inevitably picked things up from him.”
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